


i don't know what to think

by aliciajazmin



Series: Doctor Owen [1]
Category: Doctor Who (2005), Torchwood
Genre: F/F, Fluff and Crack, Humor, Mutual Pining, gwen has a pet rat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-19
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-15 05:20:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29554128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aliciajazmin/pseuds/aliciajazmin
Summary: Gwen and Tosh travel with the Doctor through time and space, taking a break from Torchwood. Gwen decides to bring along her pet rat Owen (not to be confused with Human Owen). Also, Gwen and Tosh are desperately in love with each other.
Relationships: Gwen Cooper/Toshiko Sato
Series: Doctor Owen [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2171289
Comments: 4
Kudos: 6
Collections: Torchwood Fan Fests: 2021 Femslash Fest





	i don't know what to think

**Author's Note:**

> So [violetmessages](https://violetmessages.tumblr.com/) made a post about a headcanon where Gwen has a pet rat named Owen and I absolutely LOVED it, so here's the start of my "gwentosh travels with 13" fic featuring rat Owen!

Tosh hung onto the railing with one hand, looking around the TARDIS as it rocked them about, transporting them to who knows where.

The familiar sounds of the TARDIS moving through time and space set her at ease somewhat after having traveled with the Doctor for a few days now. She couldn’t wait to become more familiar with how it all worked. The fact that the inner dimensions exceeded the external ones was amazing itself. She wanted to know how the ship managed to travel through time and space.

Tosh had done many calculations on her own, trying to figure out how time travel worked. She knew that it did because she wouldn’t have met Jack otherwise.

She and Gwen had said their goodbyes those days ago. Gwen had clung tightly to Jack, Human Owen, and Ianto, telling them she loved them and would see them soon. Jack had approached Tosh and gave her a big hug and a kiss on the forehead, telling her that she would love traveling with the Doctor. 

It had been a few days and Tosh really did. It was something like working for Torchwood, though she learned quickly the Doctor was staunchly against the guns-blazing method she and Gwen were used to.

The TARDIS also appeared to be sentient, whirring in response to things the Doctor would say, and seemingly trying to annoy her like taking them to places the Doctor did not want them to go.

Gwen currently stood on the opposite side of the TARDIS. Owen the rat sat comfortably in her shoulder purse, his little grey head sticking out of the flap, watching everything.

The Doctor ran around the console, pressing buttons and pulling levers.

Tosh watched her, trying to pay attention so she could maybe figure out which buttons did what. She broke her focus now and again to look at Gwen, to make sure she hadn’t fallen.

“I’m glad you chose the future, you’re going to love this place I have in mind,” she said. She then looked up. “Assuming we get to the right place.”

“It’s all right, sweetheart,” Gwen said to Owen. “We’ll stop soon.”

She was right as the TARDIS soon did.

“Here we are then!” the Doctor said with a triumphant grin.

“Where are we?” Tosh said, letting go of the railing.

“It’s a surprise,” the Doctor said, a twinkle in her eye.

“Are you saying that in case the TARDIS took us to the wrong place?” Gwen said, rolling her eyes.

“Look I’m sorry we ended up in Frank instead of France but this time I’m sure we’re in the right place,” the Doctor said.

Tosh and Gwen opened the doors to see a gorgeous beach with emerald green sand and a brilliant blue ocean. It was afternoon as the planet’s sun hung low in the sky.

“Wow…” Gwen breathed. She glanced at Tosh.

“So is this the place?” Tosh said, her question directed at the Doctor.

The Doctor came up behind them and looked over their shoulders. “Close enough! I was thinking of the orange beach on Gamu but this works too!”

“So what are we doing here?” Tosh said.

“You two said you wanted to relax after two perilous days of running, so here we are!”

Tosh could only hope this would actually be relaxing. She walked around the beach and grabbed a handful of sand, letting it sift between her fingers. It was rock, just a different colour.

There were also various shells mostly unlike anything she’d ever seen. She picked up one that contained all the colours of the rainbow, then continued walking while studying it.

Gwen was sitting near the water. She had changed into a t-shirt and a pair of shorts. She was leaning back with her legs stretched out so that the waves splashed her feet. Her palms her resting on the sand behind her.

Tosh herself was wearing a similar outfit. She and Gwen had acquainted themselves with the Doctor’s wardrobe and found there was never any trouble finding something that fit them.

The star in the sky was beginning to set. Tosh for a moment appreciated the way the light touched Gwen’s features, casting a yellow glow on her face and legs.

Tosh pursed her lips and looked away, but not before noticing Gwen’s purse sitting on the sand. Owen had crawled out and was sitting on top of it, eating some rat treats.

“Oh, hey Tosh!” Gwen said.

Tosh looked back at her.

“Enjoying yourself so far?” Gwen said.

“Yeah, doing all right,” Tosh said. “What about you?”

Gwen smiled. “It’s absolutely gorgeous here. If only the boys could see this.”

“Yeah… where do you think the Doctor is now?” Tosh said.

Gwen looked around. “Who knows? Wanna sit down?” She looked at the shell in Tosh’s hands. “What have you got there?”

“A seashell I think. Never seen anything quite like it,” Tosh said. She sat down next to Gwen, stretching out her legs. She flinched when the cold water touched her feet.

“Are those new treats?” Tosh said, looking at Owen, who was located on Gwen’s other side.

“Mmhm,” Gwen said. “Ianto picked them up for him before we left. Decided now was a good time for him to enjoy them.” She smiled brilliantly and Tosh stared before catching herself and turning her gaze to the ocean.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, soaking up the sunset. Tosh handed her the shell, and Gwen looked at it wonder before offering it to Owen to sniff.

Tosh had her eyes closed when she heard hurried footsteps and the Doctor’s voice.

“Tosh! Gwen!”

Tosh opened her eyes. She and Gwen looked up at the Doctor, who was now standing next to them.

“How do you feel about stargazing?” the Doctor said, an excited grin on her face.

“Why do you ask?” Gwen said.

Tosh looked and saw various groups of people arriving on the beach, families, and pairs of various alien species, holding pieces of large equipment and blankets.

“They’re for building telescopes,” the Doctor said. “Every night everyone comes out here to watch the stars.”

“We don’t have a telescope do we?” Tosh said.

“Not yet, but there are people who have extra pieces. I’m sure we could borrow some,” the Doctor said.  
Tosh and Gwen stood up, brushing the sand off their clothes. Gwen picked up her purse and Owen, placing him on her shoulder.

The four of them approached someone hauling a bunch of pieces in what Tosh could best describe as a wagon.

“Hello!” the Doctor said cheerfully. “Mind if we borrow some equipment? We’re tourists I’m afraid.”

The man looked over The Doctor, Gwen, and Tosh, and frowned. “Sorry, I don’t share with people I don’t know.”

“We’re friendly! We have no reason to steal your stuff, do we, Tosh? Gwen?” the Doctor said.

“No, of course not,” Gwen said.

Tosh wanted to mention that saying so made them all the more suspicious... but she decided not to say anything.

“Wait, who’s that?” the man said, pointing at Owen.

“Oh,” Gwen said, surprised. “This is Owen.”

“I’ll share the equipment, but only with Owen,” the man said.

Gwen shot Tosh a look. An incredulous look that said: _You’ve gotta be kidding me._

“I have a good eye for people and no offense, but you lot don’t seem very responsible. But this one?” He pointed a finger at Owen. “Seems trustworthy enough to me.”

“Well, we’re just as trustworthy as Owen! Right, Owen?” the Doctor said.

Owen simply twitched his nose in response.

“Well, since he seems to like keeping company with you folks, I suppose it couldn’t hurt.”

“Not that he has a choice,” Tosh snorted.

He gave them an alarming look.

“She’s joking! He does. He can leave my shoulder any time he wants,” Gwen said. “Anyways, thank you so much for the pieces, we’ll have them back to you soon.”

Tosh tried not to laugh, and she could tell Gwen was trying not to laugh too. Meanwhile, the Doctor looked a bit peeved.

The Doctor took off her coat and laid it down on the sand as a base for the telescope. Between Tosh and the Doctor, they managed to get it set up.

It started to get dark enough to see the stars and Tosh looked up at them in wonder. There was still the orange glow of the star setting in the sky just barely visible, but now a black sky of stars was being revealed to them. There was certainly a lot less light pollution here, if any at all.

“Wow!” Gwen said. Tosh glanced at Gwen, who was gazing at the view.

“Just wait until you look at them with the telescope!” the Doctor said.

Owen started chewing on the Doctor’s coat.

“Oi!” the Doctor said. “Those stitches were done by Rosa Parks, do not touch!” She pouted.

“What?” Tosh said. Now hopefully she’d learn about that story soon.

The Doctor pointed to a spot on the coat - still pouting - where a closer look revealed a line of stitches.

Gwen picked up Owen and placed him on her lap.

***

Gwen, Tosh, and The Doctor each took turns gazing through the telescope. They all sat on the Doctor’s large coat. Gwen gazed at the amazing view of a supernova explosion.

“Do you think any of these stars are among the ones we see on Earth?” Gwen asked Tosh, while the Doctor had put Owen in her pocket and ran off to visit some of the locals. 

The Doctor loved Owen at first, as did mostly everyone, but Owen kept upstaging her these past few days and Gwen suspected it was starting to get on the Time Lord’s nerves.

Soon she might stop letting the Doctor take Owen places on her own. She didn’t think the Doctor would actually do anything to Owen, lest she feels Gwen’s wrath but…

“It’s amazing, isn’t it?” Tosh said.

Gwen looked at her. “What is?”

“This,” Tosh gestured to all the families and pairs around them. “Even hundreds, thousands of light-years away, you have people who love to see the stars. It’s as if looking to the skies is a fundamental trait of society. Like- evolving so that you can better pass on your genes and spread to more areas means inevitably looking outside of your own world.”

“Yeah, maybe…” Gwen said. She watched Tosh go on about how the telescope functioned based on what she’d seen while putting it together.

“On earth, we have both refractor and reflector telescopes. Now, these ones share some similarities…”

Gwen listened. She didn’t understand most of what she was saying then but she loved hearing her talk and picking up the things she did understand.

“Sorry,” Tosh said. “You don’t understand most of this stuff, do you?”

“No..” Gwen said. “But you don’t have to apologize, Tosh. Not ever,” Gwen said.

Tosh smiled widely. _Success._ Gwen thinks.

Tosh looked through the telescope and Gwen waited for her turn.

The Doctor and Owen returned in the meantime. Owen was now wearing a tiny hat that resembled a cowboy hat except for a fluffy ball on a string attached to the top.

“Ooh, Owen looks very dapper!” Gwen said. “Where’d you get that hat?”

“This lovely couple, Werila and Illy made it for him! I wanted one too, but they didn’t have enough materials. Hats quite suit me so that’s a shame,” the Doctor said.

Gwen took Owen from the Doctor and stuck her finger underneath the hat and stroked his ears.

“Have a look at this one,” Tosh said, pulling away from the telescope. Gwen handed her Owen and shifted over to look through the telescope. Tosh was sitting with her knees pulled to her chest and Gwen sat with her legs crossed, her left knee almost touching Tosh’s calf.

Owen now sat in Tosh’s hands, grooming himself.

Gwen looked through the telescope and saw what had Tosh so impressed. There was a white dwarf clearly visible, being orbited by the biggest spaceship she’d ever seen.

“That must be absolutely huge,” Gwen said. “It’s incredible.” As incredible as the sight was, Gwen still felt Tosh’s eyes on her. Gwen backed away from the lens and met her gaze. Gwen grinned and Tosh smiled back at her before biting her lip and ducking her head.

“What are you looking at?” the Doctor said.

Gwen and Tosh moved out of the way as the Doctor sat down in front of the telescope. She made comments on the different stars and planets she saw, quickly spewing information about the places she’d been to.

While Gwen watched her ramble on, Tosh gently placed Owen on Gwen’s shoulder, where he immediately proceeded to lie down for a nap.

“Someone’s tired,” Gwen said, fondly. She petted Owen softly as he rested.

The Doctor looked back at them, frowning when she saw that their attention was on Owen now, instead of her.

The man returned wanting his things back. The Doctor and Tosh to some degree reluctantly gave him back his pieces.

“Thank you,” he said. “Owen’s right to trust you folks. Hope he takes good care of you.”

Gwen fought hard to hold in a snicker.

He left, and so did a few others. Gwen noticed that many people had packed up the pieces but then lay back down on the sand or blankets, just watching the sky with the naked eye.

Gwen decided to try it. She lay down flat on her back before extending her legs.

“I’m famished,” Gwen said after a moment. “Do you think there’s food anywhere?”

“I wouldn’t know where to even start,” Tosh looked back at the town where crowds of people swarmed in from the beach. She and Gwen looked pointedly at the Doctor.

“Oh, all right. I’ll get you the best food there is!” the Doctor said. “I won’t be long, depending.”

Toshiko smirked. “Maybe you should bring Owen with you. You might get better prices, since he’s a trustworthy soul.”

The Doctor pouted as if to say: _But I’m a trustworthy soul!_

“Fine,” the Doctor said. Gwen handed Owen to her. “Off we go.”

Tosh lied down next to Gwen, so that they were a few inches apart, gazing up at the sky.

“I wonder which direction you’d have to fly to get back to earth?” Gwen said.

Tosh was silent and Gwen looked at her.

Tosh caught her gaze. “Do you think I know the answer to that?”

“No, but what do you think?” Gwen said.  
“I think we’re so far away, it doesn’t matter. Without the TARDIS we’d probably never get back home,” Tosh said.

“Now that’s a happy thought,” Gwen said.

“I mean it’s not impossible,” Tosh said after a moment. “We are Torchwood after all.”

“Good thing I’m with you then,” Gwen said. “If anyone could get us back home without the Doctor or Jack, it’s you.”

Gwen grabbed Tosh’s hand and squeezed it before looking back up at the stars.

“I’m also glad that it’s you I’m traveling with,” Tosh said.

Gwen looked back at Tosh, at that soft close-mouthed smile that Gwen loved and grinned. 

The absence of starlight had started to leave Gwen feeling chilly. She scooted closer to Tosh and leaned her head against Tosh’s shoulder. It was warm and comforting and Gwen found herself shifting her head further into the crook of Tosh’s neck.

“This okay?” Gwen whispered. She waited for Tosh’s answer with bated breath.

“Yeah… it’s nice,” Tosh said.

Gwen sighed with relief and looked back up at the stars. The Doctor and Owen returned with food and they ate together before heading back to TARDIS.

Gwen didn’t know what would happen but she hoped Tosh would be with her through all of it.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! And thank you, [violetmessages](https://violetmessages.tumblr.com/) and [shejustcalledmeafish](https://shejustcalledmeafish.tumblr.com/) for encouraging me to write this and giving me ideas for this series!
> 
> My tumblr is @toshsato!


End file.
